Winter's Dawn
by Hatred's Legacy
Summary: SesshoumaruOC. Ever wonder why there aren't as many demons in Kagome's time? Ever wonder what brought their reign of terror to an end? The answer: One of their own kind. [Rated for level of violence.]
1. Prologue

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Disclaimer: Inuyasha is the property of Rumiko Takahashi. However, the story concept is entirely mine, as are a few characters.

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Winter's Dawn

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By Hatred's Legacy

Prologue

Aikka, take the children and flee! I'll hold them off as long as I can!" The Great Demon Lord Reijtsu of the Eastern Lands, her life-mate and love, yelled desperately to her.

She watched as he quickly impaled a lesser demon through the heart with his sword, twisted it, and then wrenched the sword back out. Great bouts of blood gushed forth from the already dead demon's gaping wound. The scent of blood was so strong in the air it threatened to overpower her senses and push her into a demonic rage.

She took a step forward, intent on fighting by her mate's side. He already had several grievous wounds, blood flowing freely from them all. Normally, such lesser demons would not be a problem, but there were simply to many of them. Their numbers were never ending.

"Aikka, did you not hear me?!" He dodged another demon's claws. "Get out of here and find our pups! Now!"

Aikka ran to the doorway of their chambers and then turned around. "Reijtsu, I..."

Reijtsu spared a glance behind him and growled, "Go, woman! Before it's too late!"

She nodded and fled from the room.

"I love you, too," whispered Reijtsu.

"Ah, how touching. The Great Demon Lord a sentimental fool," a voice hissed. The sea of demons parted, a graceful figure stepping forward.

"No," Reijtsu breathed.

The figure chuckled, his amethyst-colored eyes alight with amusement. Reijtsu dropped to one knee and used his sword as a prop to stay upright, the last of his strength finally leaving him. He had lost too much blood, suffered to many wounds. His vision dimmed slightly. The end was near.

Reijtsu blinked the blood out of his eyes and looked up into the other's eyes. "You make me sick," the demon sneered. In one fluid movement the demon slit Reijtsu's throat open with his claws. A gurgling noise rose from Reijtsu's throat as he choked on his own blood, and then his lifeless body slowly slumped to the floor.

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Aikka felt the link snap and she stumbled in her run. She came to a complete stop and looked back down the corridor. He mate was... Dead? Aikka flexed her claws and made to go and avenge her mate's death but a familiar scent drifted to her nose. She went numb all over. It was the scent of one of her pups. Accompanied by the strong smell of his freshly spilt blood.

"Please, not him too," she whispered.

Aikka ran down the remainder of the dark corridor and threw herself into the room where the smell had originated from. A few steps into the room and she slipped on the floor, landing in something warm and sticky. Her pup's blood. She slowly stood up and looked around the room, her face drained of all color. It was everywhere. Great arcs of blood were spattered on the walls, the windows, and the drapes. The whole room was painted in her child's blood. Her second born. Her sweet, little Lienktsu. And there he was. His lifeless body crumpled on the floor, torn and battered beyond recognition. Aikka sunk to her knees in grief, her arms hugging herself.

A slender figure stepped forth from the shadows, daintily licking the blood from his claws. "Do you not appreciate my work?" A dark eyebrow arced. "Well?"

Aikka lifted her eyes to meet the others, a blank look on her face. "... You? But... what have you done?" She whispered softly.

Laughter resounded throughout the room. "It was quite easy I assure you. I enjoyed it in fact."

Aikka gave a wild scream and lunged at him, toppling them over and landing on top of him with a gasp. The demon smiled coldly and rolled Aikka off of him, and then stood up, straightening out his rumpled clothes. He had anticipated Aikka's move. She always had been quick to anger. Aikka now lay on her back, gazing up at the ceiling, her mouth working, vainly trying to form words. A dagger coated in poison lie embedded deep within her chest.

The demon bent over and grasped the hilt of the dagger and gave it a sharp twist. Aikka screamed, blood streaming from the corners of her mouth. The demon sighed in pleasure.

"I think I shall let you keep my dagger to remember me by," he stated matter-of-factly. He kicked her in the side, causing a few sharp cracking noises. "Oh, dear. I do believe I may have broken a few ribs." He laughed and strolled over to the doorway before turning back around. "I hear that the poison I used is dreadfully painful. It shouldn't take _too _long to kill you. Enjoy!" And with that he disappeared through the doorway.

_Reijtsu, I will not fail you. I will save our last child no matter what..._

Aikka rolled over onto her side and vomited blood before losing consciousness for a few minutes. When she awoke her limbs were already starting to become paralyzed from the poison. After several minutes of struggling, Aikka finally managed to climb to her feet. She leaned heavily on the wall with her shoulder and made her way out of the room and down the corridor, smearing a bloody trail along the wall as she went.

She sniffed the air, searching for the scent of her daughter. She caught a faint whiff. She was outside. Aikka hurriedly turned to her left and started slowly down a flight of stairs. Then a fit of coughing hit her, causing her to miss a step. She went tumbling down the stairs, landing at the bottom with a painful thud. Aikka lay on the floor gasping for breath. If at all possible, the dagger had been shoved even deeper into her chest. And her left leg... it didn't feel right. Was it broken?

Aikka lifted her head up, her blurry eyesight making out the doorway. Lucky for her that with the attack, they had left the doors wide open. She crawled across the floor, making it through the door and finally outside of their castle. She continued to crawl towards her daughter's scent, losing all track of time. When she stopped, she was in their garden, at the very edge of the forest. She had no idea how long it had taken her to get there. Maybe minutes. Maybe hours.

"Mother?" A timid voice asked.

Her daughter! She had finally found her daughter! She tried to reply but all that would make it past her swollen throat was a soft wheeze of air.

"Mama, what's wrong? Please answer mama!"

She could feel small hands caressing her face. Oh, how she longed to just tell her everything was going to be okay! To simply be able to hold her in her arms! She tried to smile, but she failed even in that. She couldn't even see her darling Shijira's face. She didn't remember closing her eyes, but surely she had. Everything was darkness. A cold shiver ran through her body.

The small girl grasped her mother's shoulders and shook her lightly, tears streaming down her face. "Mommy, please! Tell me what to do!"

She couldn't even hear her little Shijira anymore. She wondered if she was still there. Maybe it had all been a terrible dream. Maybe if she went back to sleep she would wake up and everything would be back to normal. That was it! She would just take a small nap. And everything... would... be... fine...

"No! Mommy! Don't leave me!"

**Author's Note:** Please take note that this occurred while Inuyasha and the group were still searching for the shards of the Shikon no Tama. 


	2. Chapter One

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Disclaimer: Inuyasha is the property of Rumiko Takahashi. However, the story concept is entirely mine, as are a few characters.

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Winter's Dawn

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By Hatred's Legacy

_"Now is the winter of our discontent." --From King Richard III (I, i, 1)_

Chapter One

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70 years later...

Shijira paused on top of the grassy hill that overlooked a small village. She sniffed the air, her upper lip curling into a disgusted sneer. Filthy humans. Did they never bathe? From the different scents she could tell there were only around twenty able-bodied men inhabiting the village. The rest of the village was comprised of women, children, and the useless elderly.

She remembered this village well. After her family's death, she had wandered from human village to human village, living on the outskirts and scavenging their leftovers. Occasionally, if she were lucky enough, she would kill a baby cow or sheep. Those had been the best meals. The raw, bloody meat filling her as nothing else could. Ah, but this village. Back then she had been naive and lonely, and had seen a group of children playing. She had run down this very hill, intent on joining the human children in their game. When they had seen her demonic countenance, they had run screaming in terror from her. And their terrified screams had brought their parents. When they saw her they had been quick in their punishment. They had beaten her to within an inch of her life, cursing her for merely being what she was. They had called her a "filthy monster" and an "abomination".

Shijira flexed her claws. She was much older and stronger now. She knew that a few of the residents within this village had been the same ones who had beaten her. They may be old and withered, but that didn't matter to her. What mattered to her was that they were still alive. She planned to change that though. Oh, yes. She was going to repay them for their _hospitality_. 

She walked down the small dirt path that led to the village, her walk slow and graceful, tendrils of bluish-black hair blowing across her face. She had neared the entrance to the village when she stopped, a small boy blocking her path, his eyes wide with fright. A cruel smile spread slowly across her lips. She had found her first plaything.

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A woman wandered out of her hut, wiping her hands on the front of her clothes. "Kiiienjiii! Where are you, boy?!"

The mother shook her head, a disgruntled frown forming on her face. _That boy. He always manages to wander off when I need him to do something for me._

The mother walked to the center of the small village and stopped, cupping her hands around her mouth. "Kienji! Kienji, where are you?!"

"Woman, stop that infernal racket! What's all this ruckus over?" The village elder asked as he limped his way over to the now agitated mother.

"I can't find Kienji! You don't suppose he wandered away from the village again, do you?" The mother huffed, working herself into a proper fit. "I don't know how many times I've told that child to stay near home. Why, when I get my hands on hi--"

She broke off in mid-sentence as she felt something drip onto her head. "Is it raining? I saw no clouds a few minutes ago," she said. She tilted her head back, eyes squinting against the sun, and then widening in shock. "Look! What is that? There's something up above us!" The mother pointed.

The village elder looked up as well. Indeed, there was something silhouetted against the sun. "I don't know. I can't even make it out because of the sun."

At that moment all hell broke loose. As the mother was staring up into the sky at the thing, warm liquid spattered across her face and the ground around her. The village elder started screaming frantically and waving his arms around as he backed away from the blood soaked mother. And then the source of the blood was flung away from the figure in the sky, the body landing at the mother's feet. The mother retched. She was no longer a mother. Her son lay at her feet, his throat slit so harshly that his head hung on by only a small sliver of skin.

Cruel laughter floated in the air, small hairs on the backs of necks standing on end to anyone within hearing distance. They were now in the presence of a demon. The only other noise that could be heard was the pitiful sobs coming from the mother of the dead boy Kienji, her shaking hands hovering just mere centimeters above his body, afraid to touch the mangled thing.

Shijira drifted down to the ground and stood beside the loudly sobbing mother. "Stop your sniveling, filthy human, before I shut you up myself. I did you a favor. That boy had a sickness in him. I could already smell Death on him. He would have died a much slower and painful death had I not had mercy upon him."

Shijira cocked her head to the side and fell silent for a few moments, as if she were listening to something far away. She could sense someone approaching. She quickly turned her attention back to the village, a smile on her beautiful face now.

"However, for the rest of you, for your treatment of demons in the far past and possibly even the present, I shall rid this planet of your existence."

Shouts of protests and frightened whimpers arose from the villagers. The village elder stepped forth on wobbly legs, his voice not much better. "Y-you cannot do this. Surely you know th-this village is under the protection of the Demon Lord of these Western Lands. If you wipe this village out he shall surely take it as a personal offense."

"Yes, of course. How silly of me," Shijira said slyly.

The village elder wiped his brow in relief. For a second there he had thought she would actually kill them all...

"I am quite sure, however, that the Demon Lord would not care if I rid this village of one doddering, old fool." Shijira laughed as she watched realization spread across the old man's features. She felt no pity for him though. She did not recognize his appearance, but she definitely recognized his scent. He had been one of the villagers who had been the most brutal in the beating.

She flicked her hand outwards, black tendrils whispering around her body and gathering into a focal point in the center of her open hand. Shijira kept her violet eyes focused on the old man, a wide grin on her face as a black orb grew in her hand. The orb's depthless black seemed to pull light into itself and devour it, causing its void to grow. The orb pulsed with seemingly a life of it's own.

"Now die, foolish human."

Shijira pushed her hand outward, thrusting the orb at the old man. All he could do was stand there, paralyzed with fright. The black orb hungrily tore through the midsection of the old man, neatly cleaving him in half before the orb burned itself out. The old man's upper section lay some yards away from his lower half, his intestines spread out around him, sightless eyes gazing into nothingness.

"Just what do you think you are doing by attacking a village in my domain?" A voice asked from behind Shijira, void of all feeling.

The villagers whispered in fright, all dropping to their knees, foreheads touching the dirt. It was the proper respect due to such as the Great Demon Lord of the Western Lands.

Shijira slowly turned around, eyes alight with amusement. "Forgive me, Great Demon Lord," she said sarcastically. "I was merely returning these humans a favor."

"And by doing so you have insulted me," Sesshoumaru replied. "For this, you shall die."

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Author's Note: If you're confused about Shijira's age due to the jump into the future, don't be. In human years, when her parents were killed she was eight. So, that puts her at seventy-eight now. But that's just in human years. Going by demon years, she's still quite young and just entering into her prime. And let the blood bath begin. 


End file.
